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Trial opens in Katrina hospital death case

Published: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 6:36 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 6:36 a.m.

NEW ORLEANS — Jury selection has begun for a trial over a patient's death at a New Orleans hospital in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.

Opening statements were expected Tuesday in the wrongful death case that a relative of Althea LaCoste filed against Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital, which hasn't reopened since the storm. The trial in Orleans Parish Civil District Court is believed to be the first for a lawsuit over a hospital patient's death after Katrina.

More than 100 people died at hospitals and nursing homes in greater New Orleans after the August 2005 hurricane.

LaCoste was recovering from pneumonia and on a ventilator when relatives took her to Pendleton Memorial on the eve of Katrina's landfall. She died after the hospital lost its emergency electrical power and her ventilator stopped working.

<p>NEW ORLEANS — Jury selection has begun for a trial over a patient's death at a New Orleans hospital in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.</p><p>Opening statements were expected Tuesday in the wrongful death case that a relative of Althea LaCoste filed against Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital, which hasn't reopened since the storm. The trial in Orleans Parish Civil District Court is believed to be the first for a lawsuit over a hospital patient's death after Katrina.</p><p>More than 100 people died at hospitals and nursing homes in greater New Orleans after the August 2005 hurricane.</p><p>LaCoste was recovering from pneumonia and on a ventilator when relatives took her to Pendleton Memorial on the eve of Katrina's landfall. She died after the hospital lost its emergency electrical power and her ventilator stopped working.</p>